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Hiotographic 

Sciences 
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CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHM/ICIVIH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  Institute  for  Histoiicai  Microreproductions  /  Institut  Canadian  de  microreproductions  historiques 


Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notes/Notes  techniques  et  bibliographiques 


The  Institute  has  uttempted  to  obtain  the  best 
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which  may  alter  any  of  the  images  in  the 
reproduction,  or  which  may  significantly  change 
the  usual  method  of  filming,  are  checked  below. 


[Zl 


Coloured  covers/ 
Couverture  de  couleur 


I      I    Covers  damaged/ 


n 


n 


n 


D 


Couverture  endommagde 


Covers  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Couverture  restaur^e  et/ou  pellicul6e 


I      I    Cover  title  missing/ 


Le  titre  de  couverture  manque 

Coloured  maps/ 

Cartes  gdographiques  en  couleur 

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Encre  de  couleur  (i.e.  autre  que  bleue  ou  noire) 

Coloured  plates  and/or  illustrations/ 
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Bound  with  other  material/ 
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pas  6t6  filmdes. 

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r~^  Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxed/ 


□Pages  detached/ 
Pages  d^tach^es 

r~^  Showthrough/ 
I — I    Transparence 

I      I    Quality  of  print  varies/ 


D 


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obtenir  la  meilleure  image  possible. 


This  item  is  filmed  at  the  reduction  ratio  checked  below/ 

Ce  document  est  film6  au  taux  de  reduction  indiqu6  ci-dessous. 

10X  14X  18X  22X 


v/ 


12X 


16X 


20X 


26X 


XX 


24X 


28X 


32X 


Th«  copy  ffilm«d  h«r«  has  bMn  reproduced  thanks 
to  tha  ganarosity  of: 

Library  Division 

Provincial  Archival  of  British  Columbia 

T  ha  imaoas  appaaring  hara  ara  tha  bast  quality 
posaibia  considaring  tha  condition  and  laglbility 
of  tha  original  copy  end  in  kaaping  with  tha 
filming  contract  tpacif icationa. 


Original  copias  in  printed  paper  covers  are  filmed 
beginning  with  the  front  cover  and  ending  on 
the  last  page  with  j  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, or  the  back  cover  when  appropriate.  All 
other  original  copies  are  filmed  beginning  on  the 
first  page  with  a  printed  or  Illustrated  impres- 
sion, and  ending  on  the  lest  page  with  a  printed 
or  illustrated  impression. 


The  lest  recorded  frame  on  each  microfiche 
shell  contain  the  symbol  — »>  (meaning  "CON- 
TINUED"!, or  the  symbol  ▼  (meaning  "END"), 
whichever  applies. 

Maps,  plates,  charts,  etc..  may  be  filmed  at 
different  reduction  ratios.  Those  too  large  to  be 
entirely  included  in  one  exposure  are  filmed 
beginning  in  the  upper  left  hand  corner,  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  frames  as 
required.  The  following  diegrams  illustrate  the 
method: 


L'exemplaira  film*  fut  reproduit  grice  A  la 
ginArosit*  da: 

Library  Division 

Provincial  Archivas  of  British  Columbia 

Las  images  suivantas  ont  At*  reproduites  avac  la 
plus  grand  soin,  compta  tenu  de  la  condition  at 
da  la  nattet*  de  l'exemplaira  film*,  et  en 
conformit*  evec  les  conditions  du  contrat  de 
fllmage. 

Les  exemplalres  origlnaux  dont  la  couverture  en 
papier  est  imprimie  sont  fiimis  en  commen^ant 
par  la  premier  plat  at  en  terminant  soit  par  la 
darnlAre  pege  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'lllustratlon.  soit  par  la  second 
plat,  salon  la  cas.  Tous  les  autres  exemplalres 
orlginsux  sont  film*s  en  commen9ant  par  la 
premiere  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration  nt  en  terminant  par 
la  derniire  page  qui  comporte  une  telle 
«  npreinte. 

Un  des  symboles  suivants  apparaltra  sur  la 
dernidre  image  de  cheque  microfiche,  selon  le 
cas:  le  symbols  — *>  signifie  "A  SUIVRE",  le 
symbols  y  signifie  "FIN". 

Les  cartes,  planches,  tableaux,  etc.,  peuvent  Atre 
fiim*s  *  des  tkux  de  r*duction  diff*rents. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grand  pour  Atre 
reproduit  en  un  seul  cllch*,  il  est  film*  *  partir 
de  I'angle  supArieur  gauche,  de  gauche  A  droite, 
et  de  haut  en  bas.  en  prenant  le  nombre 
d'images  nAcessaire.  Les  diagrammes  suivants 
illustrent  la  mAthode. 


1 

2 

3 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

!//■' 


MAJOR   -LOWELL'S 
INQUIRY: 

Whence  Cair.e  the  taerican  Indians? 


)! 


AN    ANSWER. 


A  STUD!  IN  mmmi  EIHNOLOG! 

.1  A  M  i:s    \v  1  (■  i\  I'.  i;s  ii  .\  M . 

■I'AldMA.   WASH.,   r.  .S.    A. 


TArOMA.    WASH.: 

Al.M'.N    >S;    LAMHOWX    IMJlNTlNi;   <'(). 

IS!  I',  I. 


I 


nmmumm 


MAJOR   POWELL^S 
INQUIRY: 

Whence  Came  the  Hmencanlniiians? 


n 


AN   ANSWER. 


A  STUO^  111  COWIPMTiyE  ElHNOLOGy 


BY 


JAMES     WICKERSHAM, 
TACOMA,  WASH.,  U.  S.  A. 


TACOMA,  WASH.: 

ALLEN  &  LAMBORN  PKINTING  CO. 

1899. 


0 


tlWIJWPWWiyj.^l".',- 


II 


::i 


T.w^niHpQis 


R.«^'.->.t,v..^jwiTT^r- 


Whence  Came  the  American  Indians? 


An   Answer. 

In  the  February  Forum,  Major  J.  W.  Powell,  Director  of 
the  Bureau  of  Ethnology,  under  the  first  above  title,  presents  a 
profoundly  interesting  statement  of  the  conclusions  drawn  by 
him  from  an  examination  of  the  entire  field  of  American  Eth- 
nology. Within  this  domain  his  opinion  is  entitled  to  very  re- 
spectful consideration  and  may  generally  be  accepted  as  con- 
clusive ;  in  this  instance,  however,  there  is  such  a  divergence  of 
thought  amongst  Americanists  that  this  important  and  final  de- 
cision ought  not  to  pass  without  public  dissent,  Humboldt  the 
philosopher,  Prescott  the  historian  of  Mexico  and  Peru,  and 
Gallatin  and  Henry  the  founders  of  the  science  of  American 
Ethnology,  after  many  years  of  careful  investigation  reached  con- 
clusions directly  opposed  to  those  now  announced  by  Major 
Powell.  Many  well  known  Ethnologists  of  the  present  day — 
Putnam,  Thomas,  Mason  and  Wilson — find  much  in  the  civi- 
lization of  America  to  convince  them  that  there  exists  a  bond  of 
relationship  therein  with  Asia,  and  the  earlier  conclusions  of 
Humboldt,  Prescott,  Gallatin  and  Henry  are  concurred  in  and 
supported  by  an  ever- widening  circle  of  students;  there  ought, 
then,  to  be  no  effort  to  conclude  the  case  upon  the  opening  argu- 
ment. 

"What,  then,  does  the  science  of  Ethnology  teach  of  the 
origin  or  derivation  of  the  American  Indian?"  is  the  inquiry 
propounded  by  Major  Powell,  and  his  answer  is  found  in  this 
language:  "We  are  therefore  abundantly  warranted  in  saying 
that  the  American  Indian  did  not  derive  his  forms  of  govern- 
ment, his  industrial  and  decorative  arts,  his  languages,  or  his 
mythical  opinions  from  the  Old  World,  but  developed  them  in 
the  New.     Man  thus  seems  to  have  inhabited  the  New  World 


.1 


I 


X^ 


p 


Whence  Came  the  American  Indians 


through  all  the  lost  centuries  of  j)rehistoric  time.  In  fact,  we  are 
compelled  to  believe  that  man  occupied  the  entire  habitable 
globe  anterior  to  the  development  of  arts,  industries,  institutions, 
languages  and  cosmological  opinions.  That  this  aboriginal  man 
was  spread  abroad  from  some  primitive  habitat  may  be  true  ;  but 
there  is  no  evidenee  that  the  dispersion  of  mankind  was  subse- 
quent to  the  development  of  distinctly  human  activities  as  repre- 
sented by  arts,  industries,  governments,  languages  and  philoso- 
phies, although  he  had  already  ac(iuired  a  supremacy  over  the 
lower  animals  which  made  him  the  universal  species."  (') 

Briefly  stated,  his  opinion  is  that  while  there  may  be  a  unity 
of  species  in  the  ancient  physical  man,  the  civilization  of  Amer- 
ica was  certainly  indigenous;  that  while  the  blood  of  America 
and  Asia  may  have  once  commingled  in  that  of  a  common  an- 
cestor, the  arts,  industries,  institutions,  languages  and  opinions 
of  the  American  tribes  were  autochthonous  and  owed  nothing  to 
Old  World  influences. 

In  answer  it  is  admitted  that  there  is  a  unity  of  blood  be- 
tween the  ti  .<{  the  Old  and  New  Worlds,  and,  to  define  the 
issue  sharp ^,  .  is  aflfirmatively  alleged  that  the  American  In- 
dians are  thus  connected  in  blood  with  the  Mongolian  stock  of 
East  Asia  and  none  other;  that  the  arts,  industries,  institutions, 
languages  and  opinions  of  the  American  tribes  were  also  derived 
from  that  quarter,  and  that,  too,  in  comparatively  recent  times. 

The  question,  then,  being  at  issue,  in  what  forum  shall  it  be 
tried  and  by  what  rule  shall  it  be  determined  ?  Where  and  how 
can  it  be  demonstrated  that  the  civilization  of  Mexico  and  Cen- 
tral America  was  or  was  not  an  importation  from  Eastern  Asia  ? 
Clearly  in  the  forum  and  by  the  logic  and  rules  of  Comparative 
Ethnology. 

Comparative  grammar  taught  Sir  William  Jones,  Schlegel 
and  Bopp  that  certain  great  languages  of  Europe  and  India  were 
descended  from  a  common  stock,  and  by  a  comparison  of  vocab- 
ulary and  principle  the  relationship  of  the  Aryan  tongues  of  the 
Old  World  was  conclusively  established.     It  is  by  a  similar  com- 


(1)    The  Forum,  February,  1898,  p.  688. 


-■^,,iliUAL.vSi^^^iJ^i'P^^-^,,^Ai\k,ii^f^-^^ 


WlIENCK  CAMK  the  AMKRICA.V   INDIANS 


parison  of  basic  princi[)lcs  and  details  that  the  relationship  be- 
tween the  tribes  of  Asia  and  America  can  be  proven  if  it  really 
exists. 

The  technical  rules  by  which  the  inquiry  is  to  be  guided 
have  been  stated  with  sufficient  clearness  by  Major  Powell  in  his 
third  annual  report  as  Director  of  the  bureau  of  Ethnology. 

Briefly  they  are,  not  in  order,  but  in  his  language,  as  fol- 
lows:  I.  "When  many  similarities  among  two  or  more  peoples 
are  discovered  in  institutions,  languages,  and  mythic  opinions, 
the  presumption  is  that  they  all  have  a  common  origin  in  some 
ancient  stock  from  whom  the  savage  tribes  have  been  derived." 
2.  "Seeking  for  further  confirmation  of  this,  if  it  was  found  that 
the  two  peoples  spoke  the  same  language,  or  allied  languages, 
this  hypothesis  would  be  strengthened  ;  if  it  was  found  that  they 
had  other  arts  in  common,  that  their  institutions  were  alike  in 
many  respects,  and  that  their  mythologies  were  substantially  the 
same,  the  view  that  the  two  tribes  belonged  to  the  same  stock 
would  be  accepted."  (^) 

It  is  illogical  and  unreasonable  from  slight  resemblances 
between  the  aboriginal  arts  of  Brazil  and  Syria,  for  example,  to 
attempt  to  draw  satisfactory  conclusions  touching  the  common 
origin  of  these  tribes  ;  the  nations  to  be  compared  must  be  in 
geographical  juxtaposition ;  there  must  be  jirobable  routes  of 
migration  between  them,  and  satisfactory  evidence  of  an  actual 
movement.  These  conditions  are  met  in  the  n^ar  proximity  of 
Asia  and  America  at  Berings  Strait,  and  the  existence  of  the  great 
ocean  current  of  the  North  Pacific, — the  Kuro  shiwo,  or  "black 
stream"  of  the  Japanese.  Berings  Strait  is  but  40  miles  wide;  from 
time  immemorial  man  has  crossed  and  recrossed  it  in  trade,  travel 
and  war.  Berings  Sea  is  one  of  the  accepted  food  stations  in  the 
march  of  mankind  from  Asia  to  America  ^^^  When  the  Russians 
first  reached  East  Cape  they  found  natives  of  America  held  as 
slaves  on  the  Asiatic  shores,  and  received  from  the  Kamtschat- 
kans  such  an  accurate  description  of  the  peninsula  of  Lower 

(2)  3rd  Ann.  Uep.  Bureau  of  Ethnology,  pp.  (5-74.   PoweU. 

(3)  Migration  and  the  Kood  Quest.  Sniitlisonlan  Uep.,  1894,  p.  523.  Mason. 


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When(;e  Came  the  American  Indians 


Alaska  that  the  Royal  Academy  of  Science  of  St.  Petersburg 
prepared  the  very  satisfactory  map  in  MuHer's  "Voyages,"  1761, 
from  their  accounts.'*)  Coxe,  VVhymper,  Dall  and  other  au- 
thorities give  abundant  evidence  of  aboriginal  trade  and  travel 
from  the  Anadyr  to  the  Yukon  and  return.  Gradually  this 
northern  Mongolian  stock  straggled  through  into  America,  and 
established  fishing  camps  southward  along  the  sea  coast  and 
eastward  on  the  Yukon  ;  traveling  along  hese  lines  of  approach 
and  food  supply  this  stock  furnished  the  populating  element  to 
the  continent, — the  Athapascans  of  the  Yukon  are  represented 
by  small  tribes  via  Puget  Sound  and  Oregon,  in  Arizona  and 
Mexico.  The  very  conservative  opinion  of  Dr.  Brinton  is  that 
"no  reasonable  doubt  exists  but  that  the  Athapascans,  Algonkins, 
Iroquois,  Chakta-Muskokis  and  Nahuas  all  migrated  from  the 
north  or  west  to  the  regions  they  •_  xupied."  (s)  AH  main  mi- 
gration routes  in  the  two  Americas  go  south  and  east.  This  in- 
flux from  Northern  Asia  brought  the  cemotic  characteristics  of 
the  savage  pre-Columbian  tribes, — the  bow  and  arrow,  the  spear 
and  war-club,  basket-making  and  the  birch-bark  canoe ;  it  has 
been  aptly  called  the  Populating  Immigration. 

The  Kuro  shiwo,  or  black  stream  of  the  Japanese,  flows 
eastward  from  the  land  of  the  Rising  Sun,  passes  along  the  south 
shores  of  the  Aleutians,  and,  reaching  the  coasts  of  America, 
sweeps  southward  past  the  fir-clad  hills  of  Washington  and  Ore- 
gon to  enter  the  westward  flow  of  the  northern  equatorial  current 
off  the  peninsula  of  Lower  California.  It  is  this  great  ocean 
highway  that  we  must  examine  for  evidence  of  civilized  migra- 
tion ;  here  is  a  route  over  which;  without  compass  or  chart,  the 
civilization  of  Asia  may  have  reached  America  ;  it  has  for  count- 
less centuries  cast  the  wrecked  and  drifting  East- Asian  upon  the 
shores  of  America  from  the  outer  Aleutians  down  to  Mexico. 
One  well-authenticated  case  illustrates  the  probability  of  the  mi- 
gration of  civilization  by  this  route  In  December,  1833,  a 
Japanese  junk  was  thrown  ashore  at  Osette,  on  the  coast  of 
Washington,  twenty  miles  south  of  Cape  Flattery.      Three  mem- 


(4)  Voyages  from  Asia  to  America.    MuUer. 

(5)  The  MyiUs  of  the  New  World,  p.  47.    Brinton. 


'\'i''-?~<t.V^'-r'r>fi'-k:i 


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bors  of  the  crew— the  captain,   mate  and  a  boy— were  alive, 
while  fourteen  had  died  on  the  long  drift  across  the  ocean.      The 
vessel  had  been  disabled  in  a  typhoon  off  the  coast  of  Japan 
and  had  drifted  helplessly  across  the  ocean  to  be  wrecked  on  the 
shores  of  America  ;  it  was  loaded   with  cotton  cloth,  pottery  and 
rice.     The  Makahs  made  captives  of  the  living  seamen,  and  per- 
mitted them  to  send  a  letter  to  the   Hudson   Bay  Post  at  Fort 
Vancouver  on  the  Columbia  River.     Commodore  Wilkes  learned 
the  particulars  of  this  wreck  when  in  the  Columbia   River  in 
1841,  and  says  of  it :     "The  oflicers  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Com- 
pany became  aware  of  this  disaster  in  a  singular  manner.     They 
received  a  drawing  on  a  piece  of  China  paper,  in  which  werr  d-- 
picted  three  shipwrecked  persons,  with  the  junk  on  the  rocks, 
and  the  Indians  engaged  in  plundering."  (^')    In  this  wreck  wl 
see  how  cartainly  the  ICuro  shhvo  may  have  been  the  route  of 
migrating,   though    involuntary,    civilization   to   America;   here 
were  Buddhists,  with  a  hieroglyphical  letter,  on  paper,  among  the 
rude  tribes  of  America  ;  here  was  cotton  cloth  and  pottery,  both 
of  which,  by  the  way,  the  Aztecs  and   Mayans   manufaciured, 
thrown  upon  the  continent ;  here  was  the  seed  of  the  Mongolian 
civilization ;  it  only  needed  the  good  soil  to  propagate  it.     Grant 
that  this  seed  has  been  drifting,  as  it  certainly  has,  to  this  con- 
tinet  for  long  centuries,  and  you  have  the  story  of  the  growth  of 
an  Asiatic  plant  upon  American  soil.     The  Aleutian  Islands 
have  been  strewn  with  Asiatic  junks  ever  since  the  beginning  of 
their  history.     Japonski  Island,  near  Sitka,   received   a  living 
crew  that  had  drifted  to  that  coast;  they  have  been  cast  ashore 
on  Queen  Charlottes    and  Vancouvers  Islands,  and  upon  the 
shores  of  Washington,  Oregon  and  California.     "In   1845  the 
United  State  frigate  "St.  Louis"  took  from  Mexico  to  Ningpo,  in 
China,  three  shipwrecked  Japanese,  being  survivors  of  the  crew 
of  a  junk  which  had   drifted  from  the  coast  of  Japan  entirely 
across  the  Pacific  Ocean  and  finally  stranded  on  the  coast  of 
Mexico,    where   the)  remained   two  years  "  (7)     Every  Japanese 
vessel  for  thirteen  centuries  has  carried  the  calendar  of  China, 


I 


If 


6)  U  8.  Kxplorlng  Expedition,  vol.  4,  p.  295.    Wilkes, 

7)  Japanese  Wrecks,  p.  13,    firookH. 


:| 


('■ 


Whence  Came  the  American  Indians 


■i  , 


I 


m 


m 


her  hieroglyphical  writing  and  the  Buddhist  or  Taoist  religion ; 
hundreds  of  such  wrecks  have  been  thrown  on  the  west  coast  of 
America  within  historic  days ;  here  was  the  route  and  means  by 
which  America  received  from  Asia  her  Civilizing  Immigration. 

The  study  of  the  human  body,  or  the  science  of  somatology, 
affords  M-'ior  Powell  no  evidence  of  the  kinship  of  the  yellow- 
skinned,  black-haired,  beardless,  tribes  of  Eastern  Asia  and  the 
continents  of  America.  He  recognizes  the  entire  uniformity  of 
the  American  tribes  in  height,  color,  hair  and  other  standards, 
and  notes  the  absence  of  the  African  dwarf  and  the  oblique  eye 
of  the  fjir  East.  Has  Major  Powell  forgotten  that  the  oblique 
eye  is  a  disease  and  not  a  racial  characteristic  ?  Dr.  Brinton 
tells  us  that  it  is  known  to  surgeons  under  the  name  of  epicanthus^ 
is  a  slight  deformity  of  the  eyebrow,  and  rather  prevalent  in  a 
few  American  tribes.  (''J  The  uniformity  in  physical  characteris- 
tics from  Berings  Strait  to  Terra  del  Fuego  is  strong  evidence  of 
a  recent  separation  of  these  tribes  from  the  parent  race.  If  the 
separation  from  the  primordial  stock  occurred,  as  Major  Powell 
asserts,  in  a  remote  geological  period,  why  have  they  not  devari- 
cated  into  extreme  types  like  those  in  the  Old  World?  Why  do 
we  not  find  tribes  in  America  as  unlike  as  the  white  and  black 
races,  or  corresponding  to  the  pygmies  of  Africa  ?  Is  it  not  be- 
cause of  the  recent  separation  from  the  parent  race  ? 

Then,  too,  many  eminent  naturalists  disagree  with  Major 
Powell  on  the  main  question.  Professor  Flower,  president  of 
the  Anthropological  Institute  of  America,  in  his  address  to  that 
body  in  1885,  announced  his  opinion  to  be  that  mankind  is 
divided  into  three  extreme  types,  **  represented  by  the  Caucasian 
of  Europe,  the  Mongolian  of  Asia,  and  the  Ethopian  of  Africa," 
and  he  includes  the  American  Indian  in  the  Mongolian  group. 
Cuvier  reached  this  conclusion  and  is  followed  by  Huxley, 
Latham  and  M.  de  Quatrefages.  One  of  the  latest  inquiries 
along  this  line  is  that  of  Dr.  Paul  Topinard,  in  his  "Elements 
d'Anthropologie  Generale."  Basing  his  conclusions  upon  critical 
comparisons  of  height,  color,  hair,  the  nasal  and  cephalic  indices, 

(8)    £B!iay8  of  an  Amerlcani^     J .  64.    Brinton. 


li 


"--^^BWfWjfHHPi 


,1 


Whence  Came  the  American  Indians 


and  other  accepted  standards,  he  concludes  that  the  American 
tribes  belong  to  the  Mongolian  family.  We  have  abundant 
authority  in  the  opinions  of  great  naturalists  in  asserting  that  the 
American  Indians  belong  to  the  Mongolian  stock. 

Philology  has  discovered  but  two  types  of  language  spoken 

throughout  the  Mongolian  regions  of  Asia  and  amongst  the  native 

tribes  of  America.     These  are  known   as  the  monosyllabic  and 

agglutinative  types,  and  the  following  classification  shows  their 

distribution : 

Monosyllabic     i  i-  Chinese  and  cognate  tribes. 
'  (2.  Otomis,  Mayas  and  others. 


Mongolian 
Languages. 


I. 


< 


2.   Agglutinative. 


gen- 


V. 


.  The  I'uranian  stock. 
.  The  American  tribes 
erally. 

We  are  informed  by  Dr.  Brinton  that  both  the  Chinese  and 
Mayan  languages  "tend  toward  monosyllabism,"  and  in  his 
scholarly  essays  he  classes  them  together  as  having  this  common 
characteristic. (9)  Bancroft  says  that  in  the  Mayan  tongue  "mono- 
syllabic words  are  of  frequent  occurrence,"  while  "the  Otomi 
claims  our  attention  in  one  particular,  it  is  the  only  true  mono- 
syallabic  language  found  in  the  Pacific  states." ('°^  Gallatin  says 
of  the  Otomi:  "From  all  that  precedes,  since  ihe  Otomi  words 
are  either  monosyllabic,  or,  if  having  more  than  one  syllable, 
each  of  these  retains  its  former  sense;  and  since  all  the  syllables 
of  the  language  have  a  signification  and  therefore  are  words,  * 
*  *  the  Otomi  language  must  be  called  and  held  to  he  mono- 
syllabic. And  as  it  is  impossible  that  a  monosyllabic  should  be 
derived  from  a  polysynthetic  language,  we  must  seek  for  its  origin 
elsewhere  than  amongst  the  Mexicans,  the  Tarascas  or  ^  of  the 
other  languages  of  Anahuac."  (")  While  some  philologists  have 
sought  to  establish  i  fundamental  difference  between  the  langua- 
ges of  America  and  northeastern  Asia,  Humboldt  and  other  high 
authorities  have  declared  them  to  be  of  the  agglutinative  type 
and,  therefore,  Turanian  at  base.     Humboldt  declared:  "I  have 


(9)    Essays  of  an  Americanist,  p.  215.   Brlnlon. 
(10)    Native  races.    Vol.  3,  p.  737.    Bancroft. 
(U)    Trans.  Am.  Eth.  Hoc.  Vol,  1.,  p.  297.    Gallatin. 


B9i 


^■ 


10 


Whence  Came  the  American  Indians 


ti. 


'11 


f : 


ul 


selected  the  American  languages  as  the  special  subject  of  my  in- 
vestigations. They  have  the  closest  relationship  of  any  with 
the  tongues  of  northeastern  Asia."  (">  A  distinguished  Canadian 
philologist  reaches  the  conclusion:  "Of  all  the  Asiatic  languages 
the  Japanese-Koriak  have  the  closest  affinities  to  those  of 
America.  This  I  found  for  myself,  but  I  need  not  have  done  so, 
for  Dr.  Latham  long  ago  pointed  out  the  fact.  He  says:  "In 
the  opinion  of  the  present  writer,  the  Peninsular  (Japanese- 
Koriak)  languages  agree  in  the  general  fact  of  being  more  akin  to 
those  of  America  than  any  other."  ('3)  Max  MuUer  states  that  "the 
most  characteristic  feature  of  the  Turanian  languages  is  what  has 
been  called  agglutination,  or  "gluing  together ."('4)  Major  Powell, 
in  his  official  "Introduction  to  the  study  of  Indian  Languages" 
calls  attention  to  agglutination  as  the  prominent  characteristic  of 
the  American  tongues,  and  quotes  Trumbull  with  entire  approval, 
who  says:  "What  the  Indian  has  so  skillfully  put  together— 
•agglutinated'  or  'incorporated' — must  be  carefully  taken  to  pieces 
and  the  materials  of  the  structure  examined  separately."  ('s)  A 
monosyllabic  language  connects  the  Oriental  civilizations  of  China 
and  Central  America;  agglutination  connects  the  barbarism  of 
northeastern  Asia  with  that  in  America. 

There  are  in  America,  north  of  Mexico,  sixty  separate  stock 
languages,  differing  in  vocabulary  yet  agreeing  generally  in  struc- 
ture. Major  Powell  calls  attention  to  them  and  asserts  that  they 
have  not  been  multiplied  merely  by  a  separation  of  the  tribe  into 
bands,  who  have  through  isolation  produced  separate  stocks. 
He  cites  the  widespread  distribution  of  the  Eskimauan  along  10,- 
000  miles  of  the  sea  coast,  and  the  long  isolation  of  many  of  its 
families,  yet  all  speaking  the  pure  tongue,  as  proof  of  the  law. 
He  explains  the  multiplication  of  these  stocks  by  the  contact  of 
different  languages,  and  asserts,  "that  the  chief  factor  in  differ- 
entiation is  the  compounding  of  different  primordial  tongues." 

Of  the  sixty  stock  languages  north  of  Mexico  but  nineteen 
were  found  east  of  the  Rocky  mountains;  forty-one  are  found 

(12)  ENsaysof  an  Americanist,  p.  330.    Hrlnton. 

(13)  Trans  Literary  and  Hist.  Hoc.  Quebec,  1880-81.    p.  67.    Campbell. 

(14)  Heience  of  Language.    Vol.  l.p.  a»l.    Muller. 

(lb)    Introduction  to  tbe  study  of  Indian  Languages,    p.  62.    Fowell, 


I 


~*<-^2snBUkfli8KSKimMfll 


"9 


i  so. 


Whence  Came  the  American  Indians 


11 


along  the  salmon  streams  emptying  into  the  Pacific,  in  the  states 
of  California,  Oregon,  Washington,  British  Columbia  and  Alas- 
ka.('^'  According  to  his  law,  then,  we  are  to  account  tor  the  great 
nUiUber  of  Pacific  shore  languages  by  a  conceded  contact  between 
different  primordial  tongues.  It  is  not  the  sea  shore  alone  which 
produces  them,  for  no  such  remarkable  variety  existed  along  the 
Atlantic  from  Greenland  to  Terra  del  Fuego,  nor  from  Mexico  to 
Cape  Horn.  Do  not  the  hundreds  of  known  wrecks  along  tbis 
Pacific  beach,  whereby  the  different  agglutinative  and  sometimes 
monosyllabic  dialects  of  Asia  have  been  cast  into  bands  of  Orar- 
ians,  "dwellers  on  the  shore,"  fill  the  measure  of  the  law,  and 
afford  ample  evidence  of  the  origin  of  this  linguistic  variety? 
Then,  too,  all  the  tribes  north  of  Mexico  trace  their  lines  of  mi- 
gration from  the  northwest;  this,  and  Maj.  Powell's  law,  leads 
irresistably  to  the  conclusion  that  all  languages  north  of  Central 
America  originated,  or  were  compounded,  on  the  North  Pacific 
beach.  Either  the  Powell  law  is  at  fault,  which  I  dci  not  admit, 
or  the  North  Pacific  ocean  current,  weighted  for  twenty  centuries 
with  the  flotsam  and  wreckage  of  Eastern  Asia  explains  the  pre- 
sence of  that  remarkable  linguistic  variety  along  the  salmon 
streams  of  the  Pacific  slope.  The  linguistic  stocks  north  of 
Mexico  originated  in  the  contact,  along  the  North  Pacific  beach, 
between  the  civilizing  tongues  of  Asia  and  the  populating  tongues 
coming  through  the  Bering  Sea  region. 

It  is  impossible  in  a  brief  article  to  compare  everything 
which  may  be  akin  in  Asia  and  America ;  it  is  necessary  to  limit 
the  field.  This  may  be  done  by  comparing  either  the  wild  tribes 
or  the  semi-civilized  nations,  and  as  the  latter  will  afford  the  best 
test,  further  comparisons  herein  will  be  made  between  the  Chi- 
nese type  and  the  equally  civilized  Aztec-Mayan  nations. 

The  Chinese  type  spoke  monosyllabic  dialects ;  monosyl- 
labic dialects  were  spoken  in  Mexico  and  a  compound  in  Central 
America.  Let  us  compare  the  written  characters  of  these  mono- 
syllabic tribes.  Neither  the  Chinese  nor  Aztec-Mayan  written 
characters  are  founded  upon  an  alphabet  or  syllabary.     In  the 


•i 

i 


«; 


-  'I 


i 


I 

I 
I 


■;5 

si" 


(16)    Linguistic  Blocks  of  Atnerlcau  Indians.    MaJ.  Powell. 


12 


Whence  Came  the  American  Indians 


l> 


I 


beginning  they  wera  pictographic  or  ideographic.  In  China  and 
Central  America  a  wing  or  the  streaming  hair  denoted  flight, 
being  the  ideogram  for  the  flying  bird  or  the  running  man.  In 
both  lands  their  ideographic  signs  were  reduced,  in  writing,  to  a 
few  simple  and  conventionalized  outlines  of  the  original  picture. 
In  both  systems  two  or  more  characters  are  added  together,  and 
the  compound  often  conveys  a  meaning  which  neither  of  the 
simple  characters  had  theretofore  suggested.  For  instance :  In 
both  a  circle  represented  the  sun  ;  joined  by  a  wing  or  hair  affix, 
it  becomes  the  ideogram  for  the  flight  of  the  sun  across  the 
heavens.  In  both  systems  there  were  simple  and  abbreviated 
characters,  but  many  more  composites. 

The  sun  symbol  in  both  China  and  Central  America  was  a 
circle  with  a  dot,  representing  the  numeral  one,  in  the  center. 
The  Chinese  name  for  the  sun  is  "  zhih,"  or  in  the  Shanghai 
dialect  "nih";  the  Mayan  name  is  "kih"or  "kin";  the  Chi- 
nese name  means  "the  sun,  a  day,  day  time,  in  the  time  of,  the 
day  for  a  thing,  as  anniversary;  in  casting  lots,  means  the  em- 
peror, h's  palace,  day  or  reign."('7)  The  Mayan  term  "kih"  or 
'*  kin  "  means  "  the  sun,  a  day,  a  time  or  epoch,  an  occasion  or 
opportunity,  the  sign  or  constellation  under  which  one  is  born, 
hence  fate  or  fortune."^'^^  Here  we  find  the  same  monosyllabic 
word,  the  same  ideogram,  having  the  same  meaning  in  both 
China  and  Central  America. 

The  moon  symbol  in  both  lands  was  derived  from  the  cres- 
cent. The  Chinese  name  for  moon  is  "  yueh,"  and  it  means 
both  moon  and  month.('9)  The  Mayan  word  is  "U,"  having  the 
same  sound  value  as  the  Chinese  word,  though  spelled  differently 
by  Europeans ;  the  Mayan  word  means,  also,  both  moon  and 
month  .(^°)  Again  we  have  the  same  monosyllabic  sound,  repre- 
sented by  the  same  ideogram,  while  the  word  has  the  same  dual 
meaning. 

Chinese  and  Mayan  cardinal  point  ideograms  have  these 

(17)  A  Syllabic  Dictionary  of  the  Chinese  Language,  p,  293.    Williauia. 

(18)  The  Annals  oi  the  (;akchiquel8,  p,  223.    Brinton. 

(19)  A  syllable  Dictionary  of  the  Chinese  LanKuagc,  p.  1129.    Williams 

(20)  Incideuta  of  Travel  la  Yucatan,  vol.  1,  p.  436.    Perez. 


'^"mmmmm 


Whence  Came  r'HE  American  Indians 


13 


common  characteristics ;  they  are  composites ;  the  modifier  is 
placed  above  the  sun  symbol  in  the  east  and  west  chararters ; 
each  of  the  ideograms  for  the  east  and  west  has  the  wing  as  an 
affix,  denoting  the  sun's  movement  across  the  heavens ;  the  sun 
symbol  appears  only  in  the  east  and  west  ideograms ;  the  north 
character  in  each  land  has  the  back  for  its  main  idea,  it  repre- 
sents the  emperor  facing  the  south  ;  the  character  for  south  refers 
to  the  origin  of  plant  life.  The  Mayan  ideographic  signs  for  the 
cardinal  points  contain  only  Chinese  elements,  neither  more  nor 
less  ;  they  are  as  fairly  Chinese  ideograms  as  can  be  found  in  any 
Middle  Kingdom  dictionary. 

Brinton  says  of  the  Mayan  writing  that  "it  was  a  hiero- 
glyphic system,  known  only  to  the  priests  and  a  few  nobles ;  it 
was  employed  for  a  variety  of  purposes,  prominent  among  which 
was  the  preservation  of  their  history  and  calendar ;  it  was  a  com- 
posite system,  containing  pictures  (figuras),  ideograms  (carac- 
teres),  and  phonetic  signs  (letras)."^^')  Identically  with  it  the 
Chinese  system  of  writing  contains  pictures,  ideograms  and 
phonetic  signs,  and  nothing  more.  Other  nations  reached  an 
alphabetic  system  ;  "not  so  with  the  Chinese  language  ;  this  still 
maintains  its  ideographic  character,  and  is  now  used  as  the  writ- 
ten medium  for  the  intercourse  of  more  human  beings  than  any 
other."(") 

The  next  upward  step  in  the  evolution  of  ideographic  writing 
was  taken  when  the  picture  of  the  object  became  so  intimately 
associated  with  the  sound  as  to  assume  a  phonetic  value.  A 
large  number  of  characters  in  the  Chinese  and  Aztec-Mayan 
were  thus  given  a  phonetic  value.  Brinton  recognizes  this  ele- 
ment in  the  Mayan  system,  and  concludes:  "Hence  affixes, 
suffixes  -'^  monosyllabic  words  are  those  to  which  we  must  look 
as  offering  the  earliest  evidences  of  a  connection  of  figures  with 
sound."  (^3)  Brinton,  Bancroft,  Schellhas  and  Thomas  assert  that 
a  large  number  of  the  Mayan  ideograms  were  given  a  phonetic 
value.     Precisely  this  same   division  of  hieroglyphics   into  ideo- 


(21)    Essays  of  an  Amerfcaiilst,  p.  246,   Brinton ;  Vestiges  of  the  Mayas , 

^'    (22)*  A  Syflablc  Dictionary  of  the  Chinese  Language,  p.  XI.    Williams. 
(23)    EsBaysofauAmericunist,  p.  198-200.    Briutou. 


m 


m 


St^v  ; 


*; 


14 


Whence  Came  The  American  Indians 


graphic  and  phonetic  characters  is  the  peculiar  feature  of  the 
Chinese  system.  Their  written  characters  are  classified  as  radi- 
cals, which  suggest  an  idea,  and  primitives  or  phonetics,  which 
denote  sound.  This  division  is  the  same  in  both  lands  and  lies 
at  the  very  base  of  both  systems. 

The  Chinese  tribes  and  the  Aztec-Mayan  people  were  paper 
makers;  they  both  made  paper  from  vegetable  fibre,  by  the  same 
process  of  manufacture;  both  arranged  their  writings  into  books 
folded  fan-like  with  board  backs.  Both  wrote  from  right  to  left 
and  from  top  to  bottom.  Veytia,  who  was  personally  acquainted 
with  the  Mayan  system,  says:  "It  is  to  be  noted  that  most  of  the 
calendars,  -  those  of  the  cycles  as  well  as  those  of  years  and 
months  which  they  used  to  form  in  circles  and  squares,  ran  from 
right  to  left,  in  the  way  the  Orientals  write,  and  not  as  we  are 
accustomed  to  form  such  figures."  (^4)  Major  Powell  reaches  the 
following  official  conclusion  from  a  careful  examination  of  the 
American  codices:  "First:  That  the  order  in  which  the  groups 
and  characters  are  to  be  read  is  around  to  the  left,  opposite  the 
course  of  the  sun,  a  point  of  vital  importance  formerly  much  dis- 
puted." (^s)  In  each  of  these  matters  the  two  systems  of  writing 
exactly  agree;  the  Chinese  write  from  right  to  left,  from  top  to 
bottom  and  in  a  circuit  opposite  the  course  of  the  sun,  and  both 
wrote  the  same  kind  of  ideographic  characters,  on  the  same  kind 
of  paper  in  the  same  form  of  volume,  and  with  the  same  kind  of 
brush.  The  Chinese  were  the  first  people  in  the  Old  World  to 
use  moveable  type;  the  Aztecs,  according  to  Dr.  Brinton,  also 
used  moveable  type  in  their  books.  (»6) 

Both  the  Chinese  and  Aztec-Mayan  people  used  the  digital 
system  of  numeration;  it  is  based  upon  the  count  of  the  fingers 
and  toes.  In  their  graphic  representation  of  numbers,  too,  there 
is  a  remarkable  similarity.  Among  the  Chinese,  "in  ancient 
times  calculations  were  carried  on  by  means  of  Sheu,  or  tallies 
made  of  bamboo,  and  the  written  character  is  evidently  a  rude 
representation  of  these.    From  i  to  5,   the  numbers  are  repre- 

(24)  Hist.  Ant.  Mex.  Vol.  1,  p.  48.    Veytia;  Essays  of  an  Americanist,  pp. 
159,161.    Brinton. 

(25)  3rd  Ann.  Rep.  Bureau  of  Ethnology,  p.  XXX.    Powell. 
l26)    The  Myths  ofthe  New  World,    p.  24.    Brinton. 


;he 
di- 
tch 
ies 


Whknce  Came  the  American  Indians 


15 


sented  by  the  respective  number  of  parallel  strokes;  from  6  to  9, 
inclusive,  one  stroke  is  drawn  to  represent  5,  and  the  additional 
number  is  represented  by  so  many  strokes  perpendicular  to  it."  (^7) 
Herewith  follows  a  table  arranged  according  to  this  method,  by 
the  side  of  the  Mayan  numerals,  up  to  nineteen,  above  which  we 
do  not  know  the  Mayan: 


No. 

Chinese  Numeration. 

Mavan  Numeration. 

Numbers. 

Numerals, 

Numbeis. 

Numerals 

I 

I 

Hun 

• 

2 

Erh 

II 

Ca 

•  • 

3 

San 

III 

Ox 

•  •  • 

4 

Sz 

Mil 

Can 

•  •  •  • 

5 

Wu 

Liu 

Chi 

Pa 

Chiu 

Sh 

Sh-i 

1      1 
III 
MM 
+ 

Ho 

Uac 

Uuc 

Uaxac 

Bolon 

Lahun 

Buluc 

6 

• 

7 

•     • 

8 

•    *    • 

9 

•  •  •  • 

10 

II 

• 

12 

Sh-erh 

11  + 

Lahca 

•    • 

13 

Sh-san 

111  + 

Oxlahun 

•  ■  • 

14 

Sh-sz 

IIII  + 

Canlahun 

•  •  •  • 

15 
16 

Sh-wu 

Shliu 

Sh-chi 

Sh-pa 

Sh-chiu 

+ 
1       + 
1      1  + 
III    + 
II 1 1  -f- 

Holahun 

Uaclahun 

Uuclahun 

Uaxaclahun 

Bolonlahun 



• 

17 

•       • 

18 

•    •    • 

'9 

•    •    •    • 

In  the  Mayan  the  straight  lines  may  be  indiscriminately 
drawn  vertically  or  horizontally;  if  the  number  eleven  was 
written  in  Mayan  by  placing  the  two  lines  vertically,  the  dot  for 
one  would  be  placed  to  the  left,  as  it  is  in  Chinese.  The  figures 
I  to  4  are  dots  in  Mayan,  short  lines  in  Chinese ;  the  figure  5 
is  a  short  horizontal  line  in  both  ;  ten  is  composed  of  two  lines. 


iii' 


■■I 


(27)    The  Chinese  and  Japanese  Repository.    May,  1864,  p.  448. 


y   - 


1« 


Whence  Came  the  American  Indians 


\'> 


li 


Ji 


crossed  in  Chinese,  parallel  in  Mayan ;  fifteen  is  composed  of 
three  lines  in  each  system.  The  symbols  in  both  are  arbitrary 
and  evidently  represent  the  ancient  sheu,  or  tallies. 

All  the  numerals  in  the  Mayan  writings  are  painted  either 
red  or  black/^s)  and  so  they  were  in  the  Chinese.  "  In  Tsin's 
original  work,  positive  and  negative  numbers  are  distinguished 
by  the  former  being  in  red  ink,  and  the  latter  m  black ;  and  this 
custom  seems  to  have  been  in  use  long  before  his  time  j  for  we 
find  Liu  Hwui  referring  to  it  in  the  sixth  century.  It  is  said  to 
represent  the  bamboo  tally  numerals,  used  in  ancient  times."  '"'^ 

The  rainbow  spanning  the  Mayan  sky  was  called  "  ix  Kan 
leom,"  or  the  spider's  web.  The  Chinese  call  it  //;  the  ideo- 
gram representing  it  is  a  composite  of  two  simple  characters,  the 
first  meaning  insect  and  the  other  meaning  girdle,  to  connect 
and  spider ;  it  has  the  san»e  meaning  as  the  Mayan  term — it 
means  the  spider's  web. 

An  eclipse  of  the  sun  or  moon  produced  the  same  terror 
and  commotion  in  China  and  Japan  that  it  did  in  Mexico  and 
Central  America,  and  for  the  same  reason.  The  Chinese 
believe  that  the  eclipse  is  caused  by  a  dragon  eating  the  sun  or 
moon.  In  Yucatan  the  people  thought  the  luminary  was  being 
devoured  by  the  ant  Xulab  or  other  dragon,  and  in  both  regions 
loud  noises  were  resorted  to  for  the  purpose  of  scaring  away  the 
ravenous  monster — and,  Doolittle  adds,  "invariably  with  success." 

The  Chinese  thunder  god  is  half  bird,  half  human ;  he 
wears  a  bird  beak,  his  legs  end  in  bird's  claws,  and  behind 
human  arms  he  supports  bird's  wings.  In  one  hand  he  wields  a 
mallet,  in  the  other  he  holds  a  chisel ;  these  represent  the  dual 
powers,  and  by  the  stroke  of  the  mallet  upon  the  chisel  thunder 
and  lightning  are  produced. <3o)  The  Mayan  tomahawk,  called 
baf,  was  the  symbol  for  thunder  and  lightning ;  and,  Brinton 
adds,  "Another  figure  which  seems  to  indicate  the  same  is  the 
broad-pointed  object  seen  in  the  hands  of  deities ;  "(3O  the  mallet 
and  chisel  of  the  Chinese  is  represented  by  the  tomahawk  and 


(28)  A  Study  of  the  Manuscript  Troano,  p.  17.    Tbomas. 

(29)  The  Chinese  and  Japanese  Repository,  Jane,  1864,  p.  497. 

(30)  Social  Life  of  the  Chinese,  vol.  2,  p.  800.    Doolittle. 

(31)  A  Primer  of  Mayan  Hieroglyphics,  p.  104.    Brinton. 


Whence  Came  the  American  Indians 


17 


chisel  of  the  Mayan ;  both  represent  the  dual  powers  which, 
striking,  produce  thunder  and  lightning.  Brinton  describes  one 
of  the  Mayan  deities  as  "the  personification  of  the  thunder 
storm.  In  expression  she  is  severe,  her  lips  protrude  in  anger, 
and  her  hands  and  feet  sometimes  end  in  claws  ;  "(3^)  in  short, 
the  thunder  deity  with  beak  and  claws,  exactly  like  that  of  the 
Chinese. 

The  Chinese  and  Aztec- Mayans  believed  that  rain  could  be 
produced  by  supplications  addressed  to  the  rain  god ;  their 
written  ideographic  characters  for  rain  and  water  are  identical. 

A  belief  in  witchcraft,  divination  and  astrology  was  common 
to  China,  Japan,  Mexico  and  Central  America.  From  the  num- 
ber and  name  of  the  day  and  hour  of  birth  the  priest  in  China 
and  Central  America  pretended  alike  to  forecast  the  destiny  of 
the  child  and  to  fix  the  power  and  spiritual  influences  which 
should  govern  its  life.  The  priests  in  each  land  arranged  an  an- 
nual almanac,  fixed  the  good  and  ill  fortune  of  each  day,  and 
this  almanac  was  used  as  the  people's  guide  in  all  matters  for  that 
year.  No  important  event  in  either  land  was  undertaken  until 
the  almanac  was  consulted  and  the  day  found  t(5  be  propitious- 
These  almanacs  contained  astrological  and  prophetic  rules  and 
regulations,  medical  recipes  and  directions,  and  were  on  the  same 
exact  plane  as  to  form,  material  and  contents. 

Their  profoundest  philosophy  agreed  in  every  respect.  Each 
believed  that  a  masculo  feminine  organization  of  the  universe 
was  evolved  out  of  chaos.  The  Yang  and  Yin  symbol,  denoting 
the  masculo  feminine  theory,  is  found  in  both  lands.  The  num- 
ber three  was  sacred;  Heaven,  Earth  arJ  Man  constitute  the 
Chinese  san  tsai,  or  three  powers,  and  is  represented  among  their 
symbols  by  a  circle  divided  into  three  parts,  the  upper  represent- 
ing heaven,  the  center  man,  and  the  lower  part  the  earth.  Brin- 
ton says  of  the  Mexican  three  powers  :  "  The  triplicate  costitu- 
tion  of  things  is  -a  prominent  figure  of  the  ancient  Mexican 
philosophy,  especially  that  of  Tezcuco.  The  visible  world  was 
divided  into  three  parts,  the  earth  below,  the  heavens  above  and 


(32)   A  Primer  of  Mayan  Hiercglypblcs,  p.  63. 


Brinton. 


n 


18 


Whenck  Came  the  American  Indians 


man's  abode  between  them.  The  whole  was  represented  by  a 
circle  divided  into  three  parts,  the  upper  painted  blue,  the  lower 
brown,  the  center  white."(33) 

Each  system  gave  special  prominence  to  the  number  four ; 
the  square  form  of  their  world  gave  four  cardinal  points,  four 
seas  and  four  divisions  of  the  land  ;  there  were  four  colors,  four 
deities,  four  elements,  four  viscera,  and  other  functions  and 
powers,  each  assigned  to  a  cardinal  point ;  there  were  in  each 
system  four  great  movements  of  the  sun,  the  solstices  and  equi- 
noxes, by  which  the  four  seasons  were  fixed,  and  each  of  these 
was  also  assigned  to  a  cardinal  point;  the  map  of  the  sky  was 
divided  into  four  parts  and  each  part  assigned  lo  a  cardinal  point. 

The  Emperor  in  each  land  was  the  "Son  of  Heaven,"  and 
ruled  by  divine  right ;  he  was  the  head  of  both  church  and  state. 
Both  lands  supported  monasteries  filled  with  monks,  who  burned 
incense,  chanted  and  offered  sacrifices  to  the  same  character  of 
gods  J  both  supported  nunneries.  Human  sacrifice  was  offered 
in  China  as  in  Mexico,  but  not  with  such  horrid  prodigality. 
Sacrifices  upon  the  great  altars  of  Pekin  are  fruits,  flowers,  birds 
and  animals,  as  was  the  custom  among  the  Mayas. 

God,  the  Supreme  Essence,  was  called  Teotl  by  the  Aztecs 
and  Tao  by  the  Chinese ;  all  the  deities  below  the  Supreme 
Essence  were  but  deified  heroes.  In  opposition  to  the  Aztec 
Teotl  is  the  evil  one— the  Owl ;  the  Taoists  of  China  look  upon 
the  owl  as  one  of  the  servants  of  the  evil  one, — it  is  the  bird 
which  calls  for  the  soul  of  the  dead  and  conveys  it  to  the  Under- 
ground World  ;  all  the  dead  in  China  and  America  went  to  this 
underground  world,  and  both  locate  it  in  the  north.  Neither  of 
them  believed  in  any  other  heaven,  and  neither  believed  in  a 
hell. 


(33)    Essays  of  an  Americanist,  p.  151.    Brinton. 

0 


\ 


Whence  Came  the  American  Indians 


11) 


The   following  is  a  comparative  list    of  a  portion   of  the 
deities  of  the  Chinese  and  Aztec-Mayans  : 


CHINESE. 


Tao,  the  Supreme  Essence;  God. 

Chaos,  before  the  beginning. 

Ta-Kieh,  bisexual  life. 

Pan-Ku,  male  ancestor — Adam. 

Nu-Kua,  female  ancestress — Eve. 

Ti-yu,  Underground  World    (North). 

Owl,  the  evil  one. 

Tai-Sang,  lord  of  underworld. 

LingChuNa.     ''Mother." 

Ma-Chu.     "Grandmother." 

Tsao  chun,  household  god.    ' 

Hug  Shen,  god  r„  .ire. 

Kuan  Yu,  god  of  war. 

Tu  Chien  Kui,  god  of  Gamblers. 

Ngu  Hleng  Kung,  god  of  Thieves. 

loll  Uong  Chu  Su,  god  of  Medicine. 

Jih  Chu,  the  sun  god. 

IIou  I,  the  moon  god. 

Hou  Chi,  god  of  Agriculture. 

Shen  Nung,  "divine  husbandman." 

Ts'ai  Shen,  god  of  Merchants. 

The,  "Short  Black  Devil." 

Lu  Pang,  god  of  Artisans. 

Yu  Shih,  god  of  Water. 

Kuang  Ing  Kuk,  goddess  of  children. 

Nu  Kan,  serpent  woman. 

Teu  Kwei,  god  of  North  Star. 

Feng  Pe,  god  of  Air. 

I-bi,  god  of  Wine. 

Wen-ti,  god  of  Literature. 

Yama,  god  of  Deeth. 


AZTEC-MAYAN. 


Teotl,  the  Supreme  ICssence;  God. 
Chaos,  before  the  beginning, 
Gukumatz,  bisexual  life. 
Xpiyacoc,  male  ancestor — Adam. 
Xmucane,  female  ancestress — Eve. 
Mictlan,  Underground  World  (North) 
Owl,  the  evil  one. 
Mictlan-tecueti,  lord  of  underworld. 
Toiiantzin,  "Our  Mother." 
Tocitzin,  "Our  Grandmother." 
Tepitotons,  household  god. 
Xiuh-tecutli,  god  of  fire. 
Huitzilopochtli,  god  of  war. 
Macuilxochitl,  god  of  Gamblers. 
Tlozolteotl,  god  of  Thieves. 
Oxomococipactonati,  god  of  Medicine, 
Tonathiu,  the  sun  god. 
Mextli,  the  moon  god. 
Centeotl,  the  god  of  Agriculture. 
Ghanan,  god  of  Fertility. 
Yaca-tecutli,  god  of  Merchants. 
Ixtlilton,  "the  little  Negro." 
Napatecutli,  god  of  matmakers. 
Tlaloc,  god  of  Water. 
YoalticitI,  goddess  of  children. 
Cihuacoatl,  serpent  woman. 
Xaman  Ek,  god  of  North  Star. 
Quetzalcoatl,  god  of  Air. 
Acan,  god  of  Wine. 
Ix  Chebel  Yax,  god  of  Literature. 
Ah  Puch,  god  of  Death. 


There  is  an  interesting  resemblance  between  the  Chino- 
Japanese  and  the  Mayan  gods  of  wealth.  


C  HINO-J  APANESE.  (34) 


Hotei,  (Big  Bell)). 
Benzai,  (Serpent  Being). 
Fukurokujin  (White  Being). 
Daikoku  (Great  Black). 
Ebisu,  patron  of  Daily  Food. 


MAYAN  BACABSAis) 


Hobnil  (the  Belly). 
Canzicnal  (Serpent  Being). 
Zaczini  (White  Being). 
Ilozan  Ek  (Black  One). 
Yum  Kaax,  lord  of  Harvests. 


I 


M)    Japan  as  it  was  and  is.    p.  272.    Htldreth. 

[36)    A  Primer  of  Mayan  Hieroglyphics,    p.  41.    Brinton. 


T 


20 


Whenck  C'amk  the  American  Indians 


r 


The  Japanese  gods  of  wealth  reached  that  land  from 
China  with  Buddhism  in  507-31  A.  D.,  only  the  last  one  being 
a  native  ;  they  reached  America  at  a  still  later  date. 

The  Chinese  and  Aztec-Mayan  people  based  their  system 
of  government  upon  the  cardinal  points ;  they  each  existed 
under  a  Quadriform  Constitution.  The  Chinese  world  was  flat 
and  square ;  Loh,  the  capital,  was  in  the  exact  center  of  heaven 
and  earth.  (3^)  Formerly  the  Emperor  made  four  tours  of  inspec- 
tion— to  the  east  in  the  second  month,  to  the  south  in  the  fifth 
month,  to  the  west  in  the  eighth  month,  and  to  the  north  in  the 
eleventh  month  ;  during  the  four  following  years  the  nobles 
appeared  at  court,  those  from  the  east  coming  the  first  year, 
those  from  the  south  the  second,  from  the  west  in  the  third,  and 
from  the  north  in  the  fourth. '^'^)  By  this  system  of  cardinal  point 
inspection  and  reports  the  Middle  Kingdom  was  governed. 
China  was  divided  into  four  quarters  upon  the  line  of  the  cardi- 
nal points ;  the  Chief  of  the  Four  Mountains  was  the  head  of 
the  four  groups  of  officials,  each  of  which  ruled  a  quarter.  The 
Zunis,  Mexicans,  Mayans  and  Peruvians  formed  their  govern- 
ment upon  the  same  constitutional  lines ;  their  respective  capi- 
tals were  in  the  center  of  what  each  declared  to  be  a  square  and 
flat  world.  Cushing  has  shown  us  how  the  clans  of  Zuni  were 
assigned  to  the  cardinal  points,  and  how  each  clan  was  given  its 
color,  element,  season,  activity,  society  and  viscera.  <3^)  Zelia 
Nuttall  has  clearly  pointed  out  the  application  of  this  same 
arrangement  in  the  markets  and  domestic  affairs  among  the 
Mexicans,(39)  and  it  prevailed  as  a  constitutional  basis  in  Central 
America  and  Peru  and  is  well  shown  in  the  divisions  of  the  differ- 
ent empires  upon  the  cardinal  point  line. 

Peking  is  a  square,  walled  city  and  may  be  taken  as  the 
model  in  this  quadriform  scheme;  the  "Carnation  Prohibited 
city  "  occupies  the  center  and  here  are  the  sacred  buildings  and 
palaces  of  the  "Son  of  Heaven."  In  the  center  of  the  main 
city  lies  the  King  Shan,  a  square,  walled  enclosure  with  a  great 

(36)  The  Chinese  Classics ;  Shu  King,  vol.  3.  pt.  1,  p.  90-94.    Chalmers. 

(37)  The  Chinese  Classics;  The  Canon  of  8bun,  p.  87.    Legge. 
(3H)    Ann.  Rep.  Bureau  of  Ethnology,  307-72.    Cusblng. 

(30)    Note  on  the  Ancient  Mez.  Cal.  system,  p.  21.    Nuttall. 


Whknce  c;amk  the  American  Indians 


21 


rom 


teocalli  occupying  its  center.  <4o)  At  each  central  cardinal  point 
on  its  walls  a  battlemented  gateway  opens  outward,  and  the  prin- 
cipal boulevards  run  thence  north,  south,  east  and  west  to  the 
outer  walls,  where  they  connect  with  che  great  roads  of  the  em- 
pire. By  this  system,  springing  from  the  central  teocalli  the 
nation  is  divided  into  four  quarters  on  the  line  of  the  cardinal 
points.  In  the  center  of  the  City  of  Tenochtitlan  stood  the  same 
great  teocalli  and  sacred  edifices,  surrounded  by  the  same  square 
wall,  pierced  at  the  same  central  points  by  the  same  battlemented 
gateways,  opening  upon  the  same  four  great  roads  to  the  cardinal 
points,  and  dividing  the  nation  in  the  same  way  into  quarters. («') 
This  identical  plan  was  followed  in  Cuzco,(4»)  and  in  nearly  all 
the  cities  of  Mexico  and  Central  America.  It  is  distinctly  a 
northern  Mongolian  arrangement,  and  is  found  in  Mukden  (♦'^^ 
and  other  Mongolian  capitals  as  well  as  in  Peking. 

The  Chinese  and  the  American  nations  accurately  measured 
the  length  of  the  solar  year,  and  fixed  the  dates  of  the  solstices 
and  equinoxes  by  the  same  simple  device  of  the  gnomon,  a  pillar 
which  measured  the  length  of  the  shadow  at  noon  tide.  The 
Chinese  believed  that  the  gnomon  cast  a  straight  shadow  only  at 
Loh,  their  capital ;  "  here  it  was  not  found  to  deviate  in  either 
direction  ana  its  length  on  midsummer  day  was  to  the  length  of 
the  gnomon  as  15  to  80.(43)  Of  Peruvian  astronomy  Squeir  tells 
us  that  "the  period  of  the  equinoxes  they  determined  by  the 
help  of  a  solitary  pillar,  or  gnomon,  placed  in  the  center  of  a 
circle  which  was  described  in  the  area  of  the  great  temple,  and 
traversed  by  a  diameter  that  was  drawn  from  east  to  west."^**) 
According  to  the  authority  of  Zelia  Nuttall  and  Gallatin,  the 
Aztecs  and  Mayans  also  determined  the  dates  of  the  solstices 
and  equinoxes  by  the  use  of  the  same  simple  instrument. (45) 

in  Peru,  Central  America  and  Mexico  the  solar  year  began 

» 

(40)  Tbe  Middle  Kingdom.  Vol.  1.  pp.  66-71.    Williams. 

(41)  Conquest  of  Mexico,  Bk.  1,  Chap.  2.  Prescott;  Native^Races,  Vol.  2,  p. 
661-678.    Banoroft. 

(42)  Conquest  of  Peru,  Book  3,  Cbap.  8.    Prescott. 
\\l\Q    The  Middle  Kingdom.    Vol.  I.  p.  192.98.    Williams. 

r43)    Tbe  Chinese  Classics ;  Uhu-King;  vol.  3,  pt.l,  pp.  90-91.    Chalmere. 
(44)    Peru,  page  62.'>.    Squeir. 

(46)    Trans.  Am.  Etb.  Soc,  vol.  1,  p.. 79.    Gallatin.    Note  on  the  Ancient 
Mex.  Cal.  Bystem,  pp.  13-17.    Nuttall. 


/■ 


ir% 


m^i^^ 


22 


Whence  Came  the  American  Indians 


upon  the  date  of  the  winter  solstice/*^)  And  so  it  did  in  China. 
Davis  says  of  the  beginning  of  the  Chinese  year :  "  In  an  astro- 
nomical sense  they  may  be  said  to  have  a  solar  year  as  well  as  a 
lunar,  and  the  winter  solstice  makes  its  annual  limit."^*?)  Through- 
out Mongol-land,  in  China  and  in  America,  at  midnight  at  the 
winter  solstice  was  the  beginning  of  a  new  period. 

In  China,  Japan,  Mexico,  Central  America  and  Peru  the 
four  greatest  national  festivals  coincided  in  time  with  the  solstices 
and  equinoxes.  Four  times  each  year  the  Emperor  of  each  of 
these  nations,  dressed  in  his  royal  robes,  surrounded  by  his 
nobles,  accompanied  by  priests  bearing  incense  and  sacrifices  and 
preceeded  by  musicians  beating  the  temple  drums,  with  the  same 
display  and  ceremony,  mounted  the  steps  of  a  terraced  altar  and 
knelt  upon  its  summit  in  humility  and  imperial  obeisance  to  the 
nation's  god.  Upon  the  same  day  of  the  year,  on  the  same  form 
of  an  altar,  with  similar  ceremonies  and  sacrifices,  preceeded  in 
each  case  by  imperial  fasting,  each  emperor  celebrated  the  advent 
of  the  same  movement  of  the  sun. (48)  Each  of  these  four  move- 
ments, and  each  season  marked  by  its  date,  was  aisigiied  to  a 
cardinal  point,  and  by  this  combination  of  three  of  the  most 
striking  manifestations  of  nature — the  solstices  and  equinoxes, 
the  cardinal  points  and  the  seasons — did  these  children  of  their 
common  Mother  Earth  persuade  themselves  that  their  philosophy 
was  founded  upon  the  rock  of  truth  and  science  and  regulated  by 
the  power  of  high  Heaven. 

Other  than  the  four  great  festivals  at  the  solstices  and  equi- 
noxes the  Chinese  and  American  nations  held  sacred  festivals  of 
the  same  kind  and  character  and  about  the  same  number  each 
year  ;  they  were  regulated  in  time  in  each  land,  first  by  the  sol- 
stices and  equinoxes  and  second  by  the  lunar  periods. 

The  great  altar  at  Peking,  dedicated  to  the  worship  of  the 
sun  and  fire,  stands  at  the  east  gate,  that  devoted  to  the  moon 
and  water  at  the  west  gate,  that  to  earth  at  the  north,  and  to  the 

v46>  Trans.  Am.  Etb.  Boc.,  vol.  1,  p.  79.  Oallatin.  Conquest  of  Peru,  book 
1,  pp.  57-68.    Prescott. 

(47i    China  and  the  Chinese,  vol.  1,  p.  284.    Davis. 

(48)  The  Keligions  of  China,  pp.  S2, 86,  Legge;  Problems  of  the  Far  East, 
p.  2t)^,  Curzon ;  Hocial  Liife  of  the  Cblaese,  vol.  2,  p.  72,  Doolittle ;  Note  on  An- 
cient Am.  Cal.  System,  pp.  10-17, 19,  Nuttall. 


MRHi 


Whence  Came  the  American  Indians 


23 


sky  and  air  at  the  south  ;  in  the  Pah  Kwa  of  F'uh-hi,  the  ele- 
ments are  assigned,  fire  to  the  east,  water  to  the  west,  earth  to 
the  north  and  air  to  the  south. (-ts)  The  Aztecs  and  Mayans  as- 
sign:»d  these  same  elements  to  the  cardinal  points,  fire  to  the 
east,  air  to  the  south,  water  to  the  north,  and  earth  to  the  west,  (so) 
They  made  identically  the  same  assignments  of  colors,  elements, 
viscera,  deities,  birds,  planets  and  other  functions  and  elements 
of  nature  to  the  cardinal  points,  all  in  accordance  with  their 
common  Quadriform  Constitution.  (sO 

The  old  calendar  system  of  China,  combining  its  astrology 
and  chronology,  found  its  way  into  the  New  World.  We  have 
noticed  that  in  both  these  regions  the  solar  year  began  at  the 
winter  solstice.  Besides  the  solar  year  each  had  a  lunar  year. 
The  date  of  the  beginning  of  the  lunar  year  in  America  has  not 
been  agreed  upon.  The  Aztec  New  Year's  day  has  been  fixed  at 
various  dates  between  January  i  and  March  30,  no  two  authors 
being  able  to  agree,  or  to  give  a  good  reason  for  their  assign- 
ments. Zelia  Nuttall  seems  to  have  been  the  first  to  suggest  the 
rule  by  which  to  determine  this  point ;  she  fixed  it  at  the  new 
moon  nearest  to  the  spring  equinox,  and  her  conclusion  is  sub- 
stantially correct.(52)  «<  In  Thibet  the  New  Year's  festival  prop- 
erly begins  at  the  new  moon,  and  may  be  delayed  till  some  time 
in  February.  The  festival  begins  at  midnight  and  lasts  fifteen 
days."(s3)  «'The  Japanese  year  begins  at  the  new  moon  nearest 
to  the  fifth  of  February  (the  middle  point  between  the  winter 
solstice  and  the  spring  equinox) ."(54)  "In  China  New  Year's 
day  falls  at  the  first  new  moon  after  the  sun  enters  Aquarius, 
which  makes  it  come  not  before  January  21,  nor  after  February 
ig."(s5)  Without  multiplying  authorities  it  may  be  accepted  as 
certain,  first,  that  in  China  and  America  the  date  of  the  New 
Year's  festival  was  not  the  same  each  year,  and,  second,  that  it 
was  fixed  in  relation  to  the  new  moon  and  the  spring  equinox. 


(49)  The  Middle  Kingdom,  vol.  1,  p.  fias.    Williams. 

(50)  The  Aztecs,  p.  107,  Biart;  a  Primer  of  Mayan  Hieroglyphics,  p.  41. 
Brluton. 

('il)  Third  Ann.  Rep.  Bureau  of  Ethnology,  pp.  49-50.    Thomas. 

(52)  Note  on  the  Ancient  Mex.  Cal.  System,  p.  9.    Nuttall. 

(58)  Buddhism,  p.  342.    WllllamR. 

(61)  Japan  as  It  Was  and  Is,  p.  271.    Hlldreth. 

ybb)  The  Middle  Kingdom,  vol.  2,  p.  70,  Williams. 


'5 


24 


Whence  Came  the  American  Indians 


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In  China  "the  year  is  divided  into  seventy -two  periods  of 
five  days  each,  an  arrangement  traced  to  the  period  of  the  Chow 
dynasty. "<56)  It  is  exactly  true  of  the  Aztec-Mayan  year,  also, 
that  it  was  diviJed  into  seventy-two  periods  of  five  days  each. 
In  both  systems  there  were  five  days  in  the  week,  and  four  sea- 
sons of  eighteen  weeks,  or  5x4x18=360  days  in  the  year.  This 
did  not  give  the  exact  solar  year  and  both  nations  intercalated 
the  necessary  days.  In  China,  Chalmers  tells  us,  that  this  '« in- 
tercalation was  regulated  by  the  natural  recurrence  of  the  sea- 
sons and  rude  observations  from  year  to  year.  During  the  Chow 
dynasty,  intercalary  months  were  placed  at  irregular  intervals, 
but  most  frequently  at  the  end  of  the  year. "(57)  The  Aztec- 
Mayan  people  also  added  the  extra  days  at  the  end  of  the  year, 
and  by  this  common  system  of  chronology  both  nations  fixed 
the  length  of  the  true  solar  year  of  365  days,  round  numbers. 

In  both  systems  years  were  arranged  into  cycles,  by  indic- 
tions ;  the  Chinese,  since  the  Christian  era,  into  five  groups  of 
twelve  years  each,  and  the  Aztec-Mayans  into  four  groups  of 
thirteen  years  each.  Each  year  of  each  cycle  bore  two  names, 
in  China  the  name  of  an  animal  and  an  element,  in  America  the 
name  of  an  animal  and  a  number.  These  cycles  agree  in  these 
particulars:  their  division  into  indictions;  the  dual  naming  of 
each  year ;  the  fact  that  no  two  years  of  a  cycle  could  possibly 
have  the  same  name.  Both  performed  the  singular  ceremony  of 
"binding  up  the  years"  at  the  end  of  fixed  periods. 

The  Aztec-Mayans  employed  a  ritual  year  of  twenty  periods 
of  thirteen  days  each,  or  260  days ;  Prof.  Thomas  has  pointed 
out  a  similar  ritual  year  in  the  Javan  system.  (sS) 

Humboldt  noted  that  the  Mongolians  and  Americans  gave 
animal  names  to  days  and  say^  of  this  proof:  "The  six  signs  of 
the  Tartarian  zodiac,  which  are  also  found  in  the  Mexican  calen- 
dar, are  sufficient  to  make  it  extremely  probable  that  the  nations 
of  the  two  continents  have  drawn  their  astronomical  ideas  from 
a  common  source,  and  it  is  worthy  of  notice  that  the  points  of 


(5b)    The  Chinese  Readers  Manual,  p.  3S9.    Mayers. 
(57)    The  Chinese  Classics ;  Shu-KlOK,  Vol.  3,  pt.  1.  p,  99. 
(i»)   The  Maya  Year;  p.  62.    Thomas. 


Cbalmere. 


'-»t.MUJ®^^''- 


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VVhen'ce  Camk  thk  Amekican  Indians 


25 


resemblance  upon  which  we  insist  are  not  derived  from  rude 
pictures  oi  allegories,  susceptible  of  being  interpreted  in  accord- 
ance with  any  hypothesis  that  it  is  desired  to  sustain.  If  we  con- 
sult the  works  composed  at  the  time  of  the  conquest,  by  Spanish 
authors,  or  by  American  Indians  who  were  ignorant  of  the 
existence  of  a  Tartarian  zodiac,  it  will  be  seen  that  in  Mexico, 
from  the  seventh  century  until  cur  era,  the  days  have  been  called 
"tiger,"  "dog,"  "monkey,"  "hare,"  or  "rabbit,"  as  throughout 
Eastern  Asia,  the  years  bear  the  same  names  among  the  Thibet- 
ans, the  Tartar-Mantchoos,  the  Mongols,  the  Calmucks,  the 
Chinese,  the  Japanese,  the  Coreans,  and  among  the  nations  of 
Tonquin  and  Cochin-China."  (59) 

Instead  of  six,  upon  wider  comparison  Humboldt  would 
have  found  fourteen  analogies  between  the  Tartarian  or  Mongol- 
ian day  names,  and  those  of  the  Aztec-Mayan  list,  as  follows; 


INDO-CHINESE. 

AZTEC-MAYAN. 

Dragon. 
Serpent. 
Deer. 

Dragon. 
Serpent. 
Deer. 

Hare. 

Hare. 

Dog. 

Monkey. 

Tiger. 

Eagle. 

Vulture. 

Dog 

Monkey. 

Tiger. 

Pheasant. 

Raven. 

House  (India). 
Cane 

House. 
Cane 

Razor        " 

Flint  Knife. 

Three  Foot  Prints  (India)  Three  Foot  Prints. 
Scorpion  (India).  Lizard 

The  Chinese  periods  of  fifteen  days  have  meteorological  or 
agricultural  names  ;(^°)  the  twenty-day  periods  in  the  Mayan  sys- 
tem have  the  same  names. (^'^  Thus  we  see  that  the  days, 
months  and  years  are  named  identically  in  the  two  systems, 
and  that  the  systems  are  exactly  alike  in  principle.  Both 
systems  contain  different  periods  of  varying  lengths,  the  shorter 


(59)  Vues  des  Cordllleres,  157.    Humboldt. 

(60)  A  Hyllabic  Dictionary  of  the  Chinese  Language,  p.  974. 

(61)  The  Native  Calendar,  pp.  40-48.    firinton. 


Williams. 


w 


26 


Whence  Came  the  American  Indians 


revolving   withm  the  longer,  but  all  timed  so  as  to  come  out 
exactly  even  at  the  end  of  the  cycle. 

The  Chinese  and  Aztec-Mayans  grew  cotton  and  manufac- 
tured cotton  cloth ;  they  worked  in  gold,  silver,  copper  and 
bronze  ;  both  worked  jade  and  held  it  to  be  their  most  precious 
mineral.  Prof.  Putnam  is  of  opinion  that  certain  implements  of 
finished  jade  found  in  Mexico  are  the  true  imported  Asiatic 
jade ;  the  Chinese  jade  maidens  Yu-nu  were  worshipped  in 
Mexico  as  Chalchihuitlicue  and  in  Central  America  as  Ix  Tub 
Tun. 

It  would  be  easy  to  extend  these  comparisons  to  an  almost 
indefinite  length  in  detail,  for  every  feature  of  the  Chinese  type 
of  civilization  finds  its  counterpart  in  Mexico  and  Central  Amer- 
ica, modified  only  by  environment. 

Major  Powell  asserts,  however,  that  "in  the  demotic  char- 
acteristics of  the  American  Indians,  all  that  is  common  to  tribes 
of  the  Orient  is  universal."  Where,  nearer  than  the  Chinese 
type,  will  Major  Powell  find  another  monosyllabic  tongue  like  the 
Otomi  or  Mayan  ?  Where  another  hieroglyphic  system  of  writ- 
ing which  is  written  from  right  to  left,  and  from  top  to  bottom, 
on  paper  of  native  manufacture  ?  Where  another  almanac  like 
that  of  America  and  China?  Are  these  things  universal?  Is 
the  division  of  the  Chinese  and  Mayan  hieroglyphical  characters 
into  radicals  and  phonetics  universal^  Where  will  Major 
Powell  find  a  similar  system  of  numerals  ?  Is  the  Quadriform 
Constitution  of  China  and  America  universal  ?  Can  Major  Pow- 
ell point  us  to  another  calendar  system  having  the  characteristics 
in  common  between  the  Chinese  and  Aztec-Mayan  ?  Clearly  he 
is  mistaken  in  saying  that  all  these  common  features  between  the 
arts,  industries,  institutions,  languages  and  opinions  of  America 
and  China  are  universal ;  these  two  agree  in  these  important  and 
fundamental  characteristics,  and  differ  from  all  other  tribes  in 
respect  to  them. 

The  civilization  of  China  reached  Japan  about  fifteen  cen- 
turies ago,  and  probably  came  to  America,  over  the  "black 
stream "  after  that  date.     If  we  may  place  any   reliance  upon 


iMLiiiyjMffiimjwiyBii 


^JS^mmi'' 


Whence  Came  the  American  Indians 


27 


m 


native  American  records,  it  reached  Mexico  and  Central  America 
six  or  more  centuries  later. 

The  Chino-Japanese  and  American  systems  agree  in  these 
particulars :  the  most  civilized  tribes  spoke  a  monosyllabic  lan- 
guage, others  spoke  an  agglutinative  tongue  ;  their  writing  was 
ideographic  and  written  from  right  to  left,  from  top  to  bottom ; 
their  systems  of  numeration  were  based  upon  the  digital  count, 
and  their  old  numerals  up  to  nineteen  were  practically  identical ; 
their  calendar  systems  were  alike  in  principle  and  nearly  so  in 
details  ;  both  divided  time  into  cycles  and  quarters  thereof ;  the 
solar  year  in  both  regions  began  at  the  winter  solstice  and  the 
solstices  and  equinoxes  were  celebrated  in  both  lands  on  the  same 
day  by  the  same  national  festivals  ;  both  prepared  almanacs  upon 
paper  of  native  manufacture ;  the  good  or  evil  power  of  every  day 
was  fixed  by  the  priest-astronomer,  and  each  almanac  also  con- 
tained medical  recipes  and  astrological  formula  and  a  table  of 
religious  festivals  ;  the  same  elements,  colors,  viscera,  birds,  sea- 
sons and  planets  were  assigned  in  the  same  general  scheme  to  the 
cardinal  points. 

Their  constitutions  were  identical ;  the  emperor  was  the 
"  Son  of  Heaven  "  and  his  succession  was  provided  for  and  his 
household  ruled  by  the  same  identical  laws  ;  their  systems  of 
government  were  based  upon  the  square  plan  of  the  cardinal 
points ;  the  emperor  was  the  head  of  both  church  and  state  ; 
their  religions  supported  monasteries  filled  with  monks  and  nun- 
neries filled  with  nuns.  The  people  of  both  lands  were  copper- 
colored,  were  beardless,  with  straight,  black  hair.  Truly,  between 
these  peoples  many  similarities  "  are  discovered  in  institutions, 
languages  and  mystic  opinions," — they  spoke  "allied  languages," 
and  "  had  other  arts  in  common," — their  institutions  were  "  alike 
in  many  respects  and  their  mythologies  substantially  the  same." 

These  fundamental  similarities  are,  in  the  quoted  ofiicial 
opinion  of  Major  Powell,  if  well  founded,  sufficient  to  demon- 
strate that  the  civilizations  compared  are  related  and  the  result  of 
a  contact  of  the  races,  fiy  proofs  similar  to,  and  equally  as  legit- 
imate as  that  offered  to  establish  the  existence  of  an  Indo-Ger- 
manic  language,  the  relationship  of  the  Mongol-Mayan  civilization 


28 


Whence  C!ame  the  American  Indians 


is  demonstrated.     It  proves,  too,  that  the  American  is  an  offshoot 
of  the  Asiatic  stock,  and  of  comparatively  recent  growth. 

Thus  we  are  forced  to  conclude  that  the  arts,  industries,  in- 
stitutions, languages  and  opinions  of  the  American  Indian  are 
distinctly  Mongolian  in  character;  that  the  arrival  of  the  civi- 
lization of  Mexico  and  Central  America  upon  this  continent  is  of 
comparatively  receni  date ;  that  the  occupancy  of  America  by  the 
Mongolian  stock  occurred  subsequent  to  present  geological  con- 
ditions. 

The  demotic  characteristics  of  the  Mongolian  stock  were 
dispersed  throughout  the  Old  and  New  Worlds  by  migration. 

JAMES  WICKERSHAM, 

Tacoma,  Washington. 


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